The invention relates generally towards coin accepting machines, such as a parking meter, coin operated telephone, or vending machine, and more specifically towards an anti-theft, vandal-resistant device which attaches to any existing coin accepting machine, to prevent jamming the coin acceptance portion and coin track to prevent theft of coins, stuffing objects and damaging the internal components of the unit or otherwise vandalizing the unit.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9ccoin accepting machinexe2x80x9d includes any machine that accepts coins through a coin slot in return for a product or service and includes, but is not limited to, a parking meter, a coin operated telephone, a vending machine or coin changing machine. While the present invention will be described in conjunction with the problems that arise with parking meters, one of skill in the art would recognize that the present invention may be used, or adapted for use, with any coin accepting machine that utilizes a coin slot and a coin track.
Parking meters, and consequently their owners and users, are often victims of vandals and thieves. As is well known, a typical parking meter has a coin deposit slot where the user deposits coins through the slot thereby registering time on the parking meter. Thieves and vandals stuff objects through the slot into the coin track either manually or with the aide of a long wire to block the coin track. When the coin track is blocked, coins are prevented from passing through the coin track and dropping into the coin vault. As users deposit coins into the coin track, the coins back up in the coin track towards the coin slot. Thieves then return and fish out the coins with a wire from the coin slot leaving the parking meter in a jam mode which is inoperable, thereby causing a costly maintenance visit to clear the jam in the coin track. These jams also may contribute to the permanent damage of the coin track, which would require the replacement of the coin track or the motherboard. Expanded paper clips or paper is often used as jamming material. Another form of thievery is conducted by the thieves registering time on the parking meter by moving a wire with or without a coin soldered to the wire and soliciting payment from a potential user at a reduced rate than the user would otherwise have to have deposited in the parking meter.
Additionally, individuals vandalize the parking meters by stuffing a paper clip or other objects into the coin track, thereby jamming the parking meter, parking for free at a broken meter, and avoiding a parking citation. Moreover, there are individuals who vandalize the internal components of the parking meter by having direct access to delicate internal components of the parking meter and jamming knives, or other hard objects, into the coin track and moving it side-to-side, or forcing the object straight into the coin track, which damages the internal components of the parking meter.
The present invention is directed towards an anti-theft, vandal-resistant (hereinafter a xe2x80x9ctamper-resistantxe2x80x9d) device that attaches to the outer assembly of a coin accepting machine, such as the parking meter described above, or any other coin operated telephone, vending machine or coin changing machine having a coin slot that can be similarly vandalized.
The tamper-resistant device is attached over the original coin slot and isolates the original coin slot on the parking meter by providing a xe2x80x9cmovablexe2x80x9d coin slot which moves a coin in the horizontal direction from a theft-proof position to the original coin slot and coin track. By having a xe2x80x9cmovablexe2x80x9d coin slot, the device simultaneously closes the opening on the user""s side to prevent the insertion of objects into the coin track to block or damage the coin track. By preventing the blockage of the coin track, thieves and vandals would not be able to block the coin track or damage the unit to either fish out coins from the parking meter or park for free at a broken parking meter.
In an alternate embodiment, the present invention can be contained within a customized front panel of the coin accepting machine so that the xe2x80x9cmovablexe2x80x9d coin slot that moves a coin in the horizontal direction from a theft-proof position to the original coin slot and coin track is embedded within or integral to the coin accepting machine.